


Purple Words And Golden Stripes

by like



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bipolar Disorder, M/M, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 10:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14259282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/like/pseuds/like
Summary: Eridan stares at his hand and tries to figure out what he sees.He'd heard about these tales before, about "soulmates", but he'd never thought he'd end up having one.Well, he can't be sure he has one, but that's the only reason he can think of as to why he has these golden stripes all over his arms.





	Purple Words And Golden Stripes

**Author's Note:**

> i uuuuuh wrote this in 2016 and i found it today and decided i like it and that i should post it bc why not  
> mituna is weird and i'm not sure why i'm sorry

Eridan stares at his hand and tries to figure out what he sees.

He'd heard about these tales before, about "soulmates", but he'd never thought he'd end up having one.

Well, he can't be sure he has one, but that's the only reason he can think of as to why he has these golden stripes all over his arms.

There were new ones every day. Sometimes they were small and looked like tiny scratches you'd get from walking too close to a tree and getting cut by a branch, but sometimes they were large and kind of scary, even. Eridan keeps thinking that if those were cuts, they were really really deep. He's glad they're simply gold stripes on his skin.

Whoever his soulmate is, they have to be more careful. If they keep getting scratched like that they might get seriously hurt.

Unless… unless they're doing it on purpose.

Pffft, yeah, right. Why would anyone do such thing to themselves?

He brushes this thought off and starts wondering more about how they'd look like. He'd like to imagine them as a pretty, curvy girl. He hopes she's rich. He guesses he can settle for a nice looking guy, as well.

He sighs and sits back, before he gets probably the best idea anyone has ever thought of (and he totally didn't get this idea from the internet or something).

He pulled out a black sharpie and tried to think of something clever.

* * *

Sollux was tired. He was tired of his family, he was tired of his (lack of) friends, he was tired of life.

He sat and watched an awkward, silent dinner at his family's table. Well, mostly silent. Mituna was making incoherent sounds like usual. Every once in a while he yelled a random curse word. Sollux rolled his eyes behind his glasses and tried to finish eating without fighting with his dad again.

"How was school today, Sollux?" his father, Simon, had asked. So much for staying silent.

"It was fine." He could hear his lisp when he spoke. God, he hated it.

"How's your friend… what's her name? Fefera?"

"Feferi. I don't know. She has a girlfriend so I barely get to see her alone now." Sollux shrugged.

He could see Simon's eyebrows rising, "a girlfriend? That's… that's nice."

"I thought you were dating!" Mituna barged into the conversation.

Sollux sighed, "no, just friends. Nothing going on over there."

"That's too bad. I thought a girlfriend might make you feel better," Simon tried to smile, "maybe she can help you with your… problems."

Ah yes. Sollux's "problems". They're not that bad, really. Simon is just too nervous. He's just bipolar. And self harms. And sometimes he breaks his stuff in fits of anger and slams his head against a wall, crying. Who doesn't do that, honestly?

He placed his fork next to his plate and shoved his chair away from the table. "I'm done eating. Thanks for the food. I'm going to my room now."

Simon shot him another worried look and nodded.

Sollux got upstairs and into his room, immediately shutting the door after him.

He stared at his top drawer. The top drawer stared back. He opened it. His razor was missing.

"Fucking-" he mumbled before he realized he left it in the bathroom before dinner.

Just as he was about to go and fetch it, he noticed something strange.

Something purple appeared on his hand. A strange mark, right there between his cuts.

It was a word. 'Hi'.

Huh. So apparently he's one of those freaks who have soulmates.

And apparently his soulmate is trying to talk to him. Sure, why not, he can indulge them for now.

He quickly pulled a pen, ignoring the slight sting as it went on his skin, and wrote.

'sup'

* * *

To be completely honest, Eridan didn't expect a reply. He thought his hand would only have those strange stripes and his one word, but there it was. In all its glory. A reply.

It was only one word, but it still made Eridan's mind work. He kept wondering who this person was. What were they like. Would they ever take a second glance if they met each other on the street? He had so many questions.

He tried to think of something to say that would make him look good and not like a nervous dork, like he felt he was.

'I'm good. You?'

Nailed it.

The next reply came right after it.

'i think you can see by the state of my arms, if i'm getting this whole soulmate shit'

Actually, no, he had no idea what it means. Did something happen to his soulmate? Did someone hurt them? What happened to their arms?

Well, now, he didn't have to keep the questions to himself.

'Actually, no, I can't. Please explain.'

Yes, good, Eridan, show them you are assertive and know what you're up to.

'are you fucking kidding me. how can you just not see these scars?'

Wow, rude.

'Scars? You mean those golden stripes?'

'they're golden for you? sweet  
your words are purple but those "golden stripes" you're talking about are red for me'

Oh. Now it made sense.

'Jeez, that's rough.'

'you don't say'

Eridan was getting kind of tired of his soulmate's snarky attitude by now.

'Who even are you? Why are you so… salty? Why are you doing stuff like that to yourself?'

'my name is sollux captor and you're watching disney channel' this block of text was followed by a poor drawing of mickey mouse that kind of looked like a penis and-

Wait.

Sollux Captor. Where did he hear that name?

He started going through his memories, trying to dig inside his brain to find any information about this mysterious Sollux Captor who cuts himself and draws dicks on his arms.

'what's your name anyway'

He noticed these golden words and was quick to answer.

'Eridan Ampora. Pleasure to meet you, soulmate.'

* * *

Oh hell no.

Not him. Anyone but him.

Not this major douche.

Sollux started to panic and threw the pen across the room. He couldn't answer Eridan anymore. He refused to believe this asshole was his soulmate.

As he was having a panic attack and kept scratching his arms (razor long forgotten), he knew who Eridan Ampora is.

Eridan Ampora was, like he said, a major douche. An asshole. Kind of a stalker? Well, not really, but he was still fairly creepy.

He was the guy who kept chasing Feferi for months. He kept asking her on dates, passing by her on purpose to "accidently" run into her, showing off how rich and successful his family is. He always ignored Sollux. He probably doesn't know who he is. How ironic.

When he felt his skin breaking under his fingertips, he just kept pressing harder. He wanted Eridan to see that he's panicking. He should feel guilty for hurting Sollux's best friend. For creeping her out and making her feel uncomfortable.

He could see his hands filling with purple again. He didn't want to read what it said. Not like he could, with the tears of anger filling his eyes.

He practically sprinted to the shower and ripped his own clothes off, getting inside with the water still cold.

He started scrubbing his skin aggressively, trying to get all the purple out. It started appearing on his legs now, as well. He hated it. It officially became the color he hated the most.

He heard a knock on the door. He ignored it. He kept scrubbing his skin till it turned red. Maybe it will swallow up all this purple.

He could see the ink from the pen he was writing with fading away. He didn't know how he felt about that.

* * *

Apparently, Eridan fucked up. He wasn't sure how, he didn't know what he did, and overall he was pretty damn confused.

New marks appeared on his skin. Not words, but other tiny little scratches. They looked like half-moons or something. Kind of reminded him of when he was young and wanted to piss his brother off and he shoved his nails in his skin just to pick on him. It had the same half-moon shape.

Sollux's words faded. Only the scars stayed. It made his heart ache, for a reason he just figured out.

He had a soulmate. A soulmate he knew, but couldn't remember where from.

This whole thing was very confusing to say the least.

He figured he hurt Sollux in the past somehow, and that's why the other boy is freaking out by him saying his name.

He tried writing "I'm sorry" over and over on his hands, and even his legs, hoping Sollux will see. He wanted to know Sollux, he really did. There was no way he fucked things up with his god damn soulmate before he even had the chance to meet him.

Could there be a chance they already met, though?

The only possible solution he could think of was going on facebook trying to find Sollux. So he did.

He found his profile and tried skimming through it lightly.

Huh. This dude didn't have many friends. But there really was something familiar about him.

Maybe taking a peak at their mutual friends could help? There weren't many of them. The most prominent one was Feferi Peixes. They even had pictures together scattered around both of their profiles.

Well that explained a lot. Sollux was the dude that always hung around the girl who was his crush for months now. She told him they weren't dating, though, so why would Sollux care so much? It's not like he hurt any of them.

Well, Sollux did tell him to leave Feferi alone a couple of times, but Eridan brushed him off. Why should he listen to that kid? He's not worth it.

Apparently this kid was his soulmate. Who'd have thought. All this time he was chasing the wrong person.

'Here goes…' he thought, before doing an almost impossible and very stressful thing.

There. Message sent.

* * *

 When Sollux got out of his very violent shower, he didn't expect to get a message from someone on facebook. Let alone from the last person he wanted to get a message from.

'Hey Sollux, I just wanted to apologize for whatever it is I did. And also I’d like to talk to you, since we're soulmates and all. I'd like to get to know you better. Please answer.'

Ew.

'leave me alone' nice. This gets the message loud and clear.

'Please?'

Sollux sighed. 'look, i'm really pissed because of what you did to ff. i don't really want to talk to you. so like, can we not?'

He could practically hear Eridan gasping through the screen, 'When have I ever hurt fef? I would never.' Ugh. Just imagining him saying this and flicking his scarf back made Sollux's blood boil even more.

'you made her feel really fucking uncomfortable, you prick. she was just too nice to tell you to fuck off. but i'm not. so fuck off'

He sighed when he saw more messages coming, but one of them made him turn his head back to the screen. Mostly because it was from Feferi instead of from Eridan.

'hey sollux!!'

'sup ff'

'can I talk to you for a sec?'

'yeah'

Oh no.

'I've been talking to this… person.'

'does this person name happen to be eridan?'

':o how did you know?'

'he's been bothering the shit out of me. anyway, what does he want?'

'he told me something about you two, and really, he just wants you guys to talk! and I think he's right! you gotta figure this out.'

You sighed. 'fine'

You switched to another chat window and ignored all of Eridan's previous annoying messages, 'if we're going to try this you're gonna have to promise me something'

'Yes?'

'no more being a creepy douche'

'…Agreed. But you have to promise me something else.'

'yeah?'

'No more hurting yourself.'

'…'

'Well?'

'agreed.'

**Author's Note:**

> for now i'm posting it as a oneshot but like if you'd want me to try to continue it one day just comment? i get the ending isn't very satisfying so. yeah. sorry bout that


End file.
